Australian police say Bondi Beach mass shooting was inspired by Islamic
State group
[December 16, 2025]
By CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-McLAY and ROD McGUIRK
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A mass shooting in which 15 people were
killed during a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach was “a
terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State,” Australia’s federal police
commissioner Krissy Barrett said Tuesday.
The suspects were a father and son, aged 50 and 24, authorities have
said. The older man, whom state officials named as Sajid Akram, was shot
dead. His son was being treated at a hospital.
A news conference by political and law enforcement leaders on Tuesday
was the first time officials confirmed their beliefs about the suspects'
ideologies. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the remarks were based
on evidence obtained, including “the presence of Islamic State flags in
the vehicle that has been seized.”
There are 25 people still being treated in hospitals after Sunday’s
massacre, 10 of them in critical condition. Three of them are patients
in a children's hospital.
Also among them is Ahmed al Ahmed, who was captured on video tackling
and disarming one assailant, before pointing the man’s weapon at him and
then setting it on the ground.
Those killed ranged in age from 10 to 87 years old. They were attending
a Hanukkah event at Australia's most famous beach Sunday when the
gunshots rang out.
Calls for stricter gun laws
Albanese and the leaders of some of Australia's states have pledged to
tighten the country's already strict gun laws in what would be the most
sweeping reforms since a shooter killed 35 people in Port Arthur,
Tasmania in 1996. Mass shootings in Australia have since been rare.
Officials divulged more information as public questions and anger grew
on the third day following the attack about how the suspects were able
to plan and enact it and whether Australian Jews had been sufficiently
protected from rising antisemitism.
Albanese announced plans to further restrict access to guns, in part
because it emerged the older suspect had amassed his cache of six
weapons legally.
“The suspected murderers, callous in how they allegedly coordinated
their attack, appeared to have no regard for the age or ableness of
their victims,” said Barrett. “It appears the alleged killers were
interested only in a quest for a death tally.”
Authorities probe suspects' trip to Philippines
The suspects traveled to the Philippines last month, said Mal Lanyon,
the Police Commissioner for New South Wales state. Their reasons for the
trip and where in the Philippines they went would be probed by
investigators, Lanyon said.
He also confirmed that a vehicle removed from the scene, registered to
the younger suspect, contained improvised explosive devices.
“I also confirm that it contained two homemade ISIS flags,” Lanyon said.
The Philippines Bureau of Immigration confirmed Tuesday that Sajid Akram
traveled to the country from Nov. 1 to Nov. 28 along with Naveed Akram,
24, giving the city of Davao as their final destination. Australian
authorities have not named the younger suspect.
Groups of Muslim separatist militants, including Abu Sayyaf in the
southern Philippines, once expressed support for the Islamic State group
and have hosted small numbers of foreign militant combatants from Asia,
the Middle East and Europe in the past.
Decades of military offensives, however, have considerably weakened Abu
Sayyaf and other such armed groups, and Philippine military and police
officials say there has been no recent indication of any foreign
militants in the country’s south.
Albanese visits man who tackled shooter
Earlier, Albanese visited al Ahmed in hospital. Albanese said the
42-year-old Syrian-born fruit shop owner had further surgery scheduled
on Wednesday for shotgun wounds to his left should and upper body.
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British Consul General Louise Cantillon, arrives at a memorial with
flowers and a wreath during a tribute for victims of Sunday's
shooting at the Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach on Tuesday, Dec. 16,
2025, in Sydney, Australia. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
“It was a great honor to met Ahmed al Ahmed. He is a true Australian
hero,” Albanese told reporters after a 30-minute meeting with him
and his parents.
“We are a brave country. Ahmed al Ahmed represents the best of our
country. We will not allow this country to be divided. That is what
the terrorists seek. We will unite. We will embrace each other, and
we’ll get through this,” Albanese added.
Lifeguards praised for actions during massacre
The famous blue-shirted lifeguards of Bondi Beach attracted praise
as more stories of their actions during the shooting emerged.
One duty lifeguard, identified by the organization’s Instagram
account as Rory Davey, performed an ocean rescue during the shooting
after people fled, fully clothed, into the sea.
Another lifeguard, Jackson Doolan, posted to his social media a
photo taken as he sprinted, barefoot and clutching a first aid kit,
from Tamarama beach a mile away towards Bondi as the massacre
continued.
“These guys are community members and it’s not about the surf,”
Anthony Caroll, one of the stars of a popular reality television
show called “Bondi Rescue,” told Sky News on Tuesday. “They heard
the gunshots and they left the beach and came right up the back here
into the scene of the crime, into harm’s way while those bullets
were being shot.”
Record numbers sign up to donate blood as Australians mourn at
scene of shooting
Israel’s Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon visited the scene of
the carnage on Tuesday and was welcomed by Jewish leaders.
“I’m not sure that my vocabulary is rich enough to express how I
feel. My heart is torn apart because the Jewish community, the
Australians of Jewish faith, the Jewish community is also my
community,” Maimon said.
Thousands have visited Bondi from all walks of life since the
tragedy to pay their respects and lay flowers on a mounting pile at
an impromptu memorial site.
One of the visitors on Tuesday was former Prime Minister John
Howard, who was responsible the the 1996 overhaul of gun laws and an
associated buy-back of newly outlawed weapons.
In the aftermath of the shooting, a record number of Australians
signed up to donate blood. On Monday alone close to 50,000
appointments were booked, more than double the previous record, the
national donation organization Lifeblood told The Associated Press.
Almost 1,300 people signed up to donate for the first time. Such was
the enthusiasm at Lifeblood’s Bondi location that appointments to
give blood were unavailable before Dec. 31, according to the
organization’s website.
A total of 7,810 donations of blood, plasma and platelets were made
across the country on Monday, spokesperson Cath Stone said.
Australian news outlets reported queues of up to four hours at some
Sydney donation sites.
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Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand.
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